1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus that performs printing on sheets selectively supplied by a long edge feed and a short edge feed, a method for controlling the same, and a computer-readable storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
As discussed in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,336,011, there is a conventional printing apparatus that can perform printing on sheets supplied by a long edge feed or a short edge feed. The long edge feed is a sheet feeding method for conveying a sheet 601 with its long side positioned on the leading edge as illustrated in FIG. 6A. The short edge feed is a sheet feeding method for conveying a sheet 602 with its short side positioned on the leading edge as illustrated in FIG. 6B.
The time required for printing a single sheet according to the short edge feed is longer than the time required for printing the same sheet according to the long edge feed. Because, the time for print processing (e.g., charging, exposure, development, transfer, and fixing) applied on a sheet is proportional to the length of the sheet in the conveyance direction. More specifically, if the printing time (i.e., requisite time) for a sheet supplied by the long edge feed is referred to as 1, the requisite time for printing the same sheet supplied by the short edge feed is approximately 1.5.
If a total number of sheets is a few or a few dozen, the time required to obtain an output product (i.e., a print product) may not be so different. However, a print on demand (POD) printing system or apparatus is generally required to process a print job including printing of a large amount of sheets. Therefore, the above-described difference in the requisite time may have a significant influence on print performances.